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Happiest day?

I don't know...

It is said that the happiest days in a boat owners life are when he buys a boat and when he sells a boat. Not so sure, I just watched with mixed feelings as Kayli Marie rolled down the drive behind another man's truck. Off to what I hope will be a good life in the Tri-Cities area. Not that I had sailed her since launching Marianita a few years ago, it just made sense to send her on...but still.

Re: Happiest day?

I've been OK with selling most of my boats, but a few I still very much miss. Happiest day is when I start a new project with the research for a new design. I know that many glorious days lie ahead with planning, lofting and building.

Re: Happiest day?

Originally Posted by Rich Jones

I've been OK with selling most of my boats, but a few I still very much miss. Happiest day is when I start a new project with the research for a new design. I know that many glorious days lie ahead with planning, lofting and building.

I agree, Rich. The moment you select a new project and anticipate the coming together of ideas and materials... that is the happiest, most exciting moment.

Re: Happiest day?

Re: Happiest day?

It's just coincidence that Steve and I both sold our Deer Isle Kosters at nearly the same time and for much the same reason. I liked Pointedly very much but just wasn't using her often—whenever a good sailing day turned up, my thoughts turned to my larger 19' Devlin Winter Wren, ready to go at the marina. I'm also now building a 21' Devlin Song Wren, which is consuming heaps of time and even bigger heaps of money.

I confess also that I'm at an age where I appreciate the security of a ballasted sailboat, and I never did come to gracefully accept the eternal hassles of trailering a small boat. I can't count the number of times I've been sitting on the concrete in my driveway or a parking space near a launch ramp, rewiring the lights. In the rain, usually.

Re: Happiest day?

Letting go of Rita was hard after all the time and work we'd put into her. Not to mention the good times and the pleasure of going places in her. I felt I'd had a limb amputated for a few weeks after I handed her off. I dreamed about her during that mourning period too. But it was the right decision for our evolving lives.

These days I wouldn't want to do the routine, repetitive work a show ready 50 foot classic wooden yacht demands. I've no desire to keep a boat at the level I maintained when we were younger. Neither would I have wanted to let her slide back from the place we got her to. So I no longer have misgivings. But I did at first.

Of course the ensuing name change annoyed me too, as did the fast turnover to the next owner by the guy who bought her from us along with a few other minor items. When you've spent every free hour for 20 years making something to be proud of from a beater, it is hard to let her go. Then again, once you do sell it on, you have to move on too. There's great freedom in that because as we all know, the boat owns you more than you own the boat.

One of the most enduring qualities of an old wooden boat is the smell it imparts to your clothing.